John Proudstar ‘Thunderbird’ dreamt that he was, well, a thunderbird. He flew through the mountainous crags of his homeland, brought forth thunderstorms with flaps of his wings, carried thunderbolts in his beak, and in general? He was an object of worship and veneration, even if he was completely, 100%, not an ordinary human. Put otherwise, this was the exact opposite of his current position in life – he was still in charge of the Mutant Underground, or at least – a part of it, but lately it came with more negative baggage than positive, and not just because of Purifier-level reasons.
Something hot and heavy fell upon John’s chest, waking him up. He half-opened one of his eyes, (he was still too sore to open both of them completely), and saw that it was Clarice, keeping a vigil over him. “Hey!” he dragged out the words from his mouth, (he was feeling rather dope, due to the mix of his healing abilities and the medicine applied to his wounds). “What’s up?”
“John! You’re awake!” Clarice exclaimed loudly – maybe even too loudly, as her words echoed in John’s skull, causing him to wince, (but Clarice failed to notice that in her excitement). “Everyone! John is alive! For real!”
“Hey!” John obligingly repeated again, as two more faces joined Clarice – Marcos and Lauren. “What’s up? I remember you,” he pointed at Lauren, “and you,” he pointed at Marcos, “and Lorna, even though she wasn’t really there-“
“Yeah, she was,” Marcos shook his head, (despite his better judgement – unlike Clarice, he could see that John was not mentally all there yet). “She and Andy came over to rescue you from the Purifiers-“
“Oh. So she really was there?” John muttered. “And here I was, telling Jace that we and they were different, the Inner Circle’s evil, while we’re not. Guess we are not – we are all the same, only different. So much for the dream…” he fell back asleep.
“Um,” Clarice looked at Eclipse. “Sorry about this-“
“Don’t mention it,” Marcos shook his head. “Normally, John’s much more proper, but when he gets high, he cannot shut up to save his life-“
“He isn’t high-“
“With this medicine he might as well be for all the practical reasons-“
John snored loudly, interrupting both Blink and Eclipse. Among the snores – and they were really loud, actually – they all could hear: ‘And the Strucker needs to get laid, or she’ll burst’.
“That’s nice,” Lauren said flatly. “He remembers me.”
“Sorry,” Clarice looked at the other young woman with a wince. “John-“
“Don’t,” Lauren shook her head. “Lately, we all suck, and for all sorts of reasons too. You people were doing your thing, we were taking care of my dad, and so we just drifted apart. The Inner Circle – they’re messed up, but at least they’re together.”
“Hey! No, they’re not – Lorna and Andy came on their own, and no one of their new friends did something about it… or cared about us…” Marcos looked away first.
“Andy and I will have a resolution,” Lauren looked away as well, “but Lorna’s a grown-up, she’s older than me, and she can make her own decisions. Whatever you two have between yourselves, no one’s going to interfere in it, especially with John down for the count.” She paused and added. “Plus, yes, numbers mutter – if they both come back, with both of them, we’ll number 8 rather than 6, and since we’re the Mutant Underground these days, this can be a good thing.”
There was a pause as both Marcos and Clarice waited for each other to tell Lauren that she was wrong and even these days the Mutant Underground was more than just them and the Strucker parents, but somehow, neither of them did.
“So what happens now?” Clarice asked no one in particular, as the realization that they, for all the practical purposes, were the Mutant Underground.
“You talk to those Morlock people?” Lauren suggested herself glad to put this awkwardness behind.
“No!” Marcos said with a vehemence that startled the others. “The Morlocks may be survivors, but that’s all that they are; they don’t fight or stand-up for others or even themselves – they just hide in those holes and tunnels of theirs, pretending to be winning…whatever it is that they are playing – we don’t need it, and they don’t need us.”
“They’re good people,” Clarice said weakly, but unlike the usual, her heart was not in it.
“Maybe, but they’re not our people,” Marcos said firmly. “Us and Lorna and Andy – we’re their people and vice versa. The Morlocks are not and vice versa.”
“So, do we have any more people other than my parents?” Lauren asked flatly, noticing that Marcos was losing steam now and was not so confrontational anymore.
“Maybe,” Marcos exhaled. “Girls, I think that we need to call Ms. Evangeline Whedon instead.”
A reluctant and unhappy silence was his only answer.
End